Bass, Alfred [Alfie] [formerly Abraham Basalinsky] (1916–1987), actor, was born on 10 April 1916 at 7 Gibraltar Walk, Bethnal Green, London, the youngest among the ten children of Jacob Basalinsky, a cabinet-maker, and his wife, Ada Miller. After an elementary school education he followed his father's trade, but was also engaged in local boys' club dramatics. He was early on active in supporting the labour movement, often attended union meetings, and took part in the battle of ...
Image
Lew Grade, Baron Grade (1906–1998) by Cornel Lucas, 1996 © Cornel Lucas; collection National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Peter Waymark
Grade, Lew, Baron Grade (1906–1998), theatrical agent, television executive, and film producer, was born Louis Winogradsky on 25 December 1906 at Tokmak, near Odessa, Ukraine, the eldest of four children, three boys and a girl, of Isaac Winogradsky (c.1879–1935), and his wife, ...
Image
Sidney James (1913–1976) by unknown photographer © National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
James, Sidney [Sid] [real name Sidney Joel Cohen] (1913–1976), actor, was born on 8 May 1913 in Hancock Street, Johannesburg, South Africa, the second of the two sons of Laurie Cohen (b. 1878) and his wife, Reine Solomon. His parents were both Jewish music-hall entertainers who had moved to ...
Article
Karlin, Miriam [real name Miriam Samuels] (1925–2011), actress, was born on 23 June 1925 at 1 Lawn Mansions, Hampstead, London, the younger child of Harry Samuels (1893–1976), barrister, and his wife, Céline, née Aronowitz (d. 1983). Her elder brother, Michael Samuels (1920–2010)...
Article
Saville, Philip (1927–2016), television, film, and theatre director, was born on 28 October 1927 at the St Marylebone Infirmary, in Northumberland Street, Marylebone, London, the son of Louis Saffer, later Saville, a salesman for a clothing company, and his wife, Sadie Kathleen, née...
